Question about coral bleaching and El Nino

Pam Muller pmuller at seas.marine.usf.edu
Mon Nov 23 15:22:04 EST 1998


A student in a science writing program called me the other day and asked
an interesting question:

"If coral bleaching is associated with high temperatures associated with 
El Nino, and 1997 was a major El Nino year, why did the corals bleach in
1998".  

I said that the reports that I had followed seemed to indicate that the
temperatures were higher this year than last, but didn't know how to
explain that in the context of El Nino/Southern Oscillation.  

I told her to subscribe to the coral.list, so she will probably see your
response if anyone has specific insight into this question.

Thanks,

Pamela Hallock Muller
Department of Marine Science
University of South Florida
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701 USA
pmuller at marine.usf.edu
Phone: 727-553-1567
FAX: 727-553-1189 	NOTE NEW AREA CODE!!!

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what
nobody has thought."  - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi -



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